


Another Chance

by idolhands



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 09:53:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7930213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idolhands/pseuds/idolhands
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place after Arthur's Bane p2 but goes off on a tangent to the rest of the series.</p><p>Merlin and Mordred's tension reaches boiling point and spills over in a way that neither of them saw coming and will affect the fate off Camelot.<br/>Trigger Warning: suicide at the end</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Chance

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies for any grammar mistakes, this has been sat on my laptop for years until I finally got my act together and got an AO3 account sorted.  
> Also, oh my God I am sorry about this ending, I forgot how dark my writing used to be.

Mordred was looking around the antechamber thinking about how exciting the knighting ceremony had been. Embarrassing too, but he was used to it, he’d been on his knees in front of men like Arthur before there just hadn’t that many people watching, well not most of the times anyway. He reached up to take off his cloak, struggling with the clasp,

“Here, let me do that, Sire,” Merlin’s voice made him jump; he noticed that there was still an element of distrust there but he nodded all the same. Merlin stood behind him, snaking his hands over Mordred’s shoulders to reach his neck. Mordred felt like he’d been electrocuted, his whole body tingling, Merlin, the man who had infected his dreams for six years, was standing right behind him, with his arms around his shoulders. Suddenly, the cloak was unfastened and Merlin left, much to Mordred’s dismay.

Weeks later, Mordred was returning, with the knights and Merlin, to the changing rooms after knight’s practise. It had gone OK but Mordred felt like Arthur was disappointed with him. He fought well but Merlin was standing over at the side of the grounds causing him to lose his concentration more than once. Which reminded him, he needed to go and see Gaius later; some of the cuts on his arm and chest were really stinging. He had just sat down on one of the benches when Gwaine opened his gob, “What’s up, Mordred. You kept losing your focus, I thought we’d told all the girls to stay away, young lad like you has got to try a bit harder to concentrate. You should go to the tavern more; some of the ladies are more open to flirting after a couple of pints!” Mordred struggled for a comeback but Arthurs came to his rescue,

“Shut up, Gwaine, you know it was nothing like that,” Arthur chastised but then lowered his voice to a whisper and leant closer to Mordred, “I know it wasn’t anything about girls but seriously, are you Ok? You know where my chambers are if you ever want to talk.”

“I’m fine, my Lord, but thanks’ for asking. I’ll be sure to tell you if anything’s wrong.” Mordred smiled at the king but then Merlin’s voice rang out in his head, clear as a whistle

 _“Stop sucking up to him, I know what you’re up to,”_ Merlin glared at him

_“Why can’t you trust me, I’m on your side, just give me another chance”_

_“NO! I know all too well what you’re like, Mordred.”_ Merlin spun on his heel and left. Mordred pulled his boot back on, using it as a cover to wipe away the tears forming in his eyes. He strode from the room with a hurried, “Excuse me, Sire,” and ran into the passageway beyond. He saw Merlin walking down the deserted corridor next to the long one adjoining the changing room and Guard Room.

“Merlin, wait, please!” He shouted and to his surprise Merlin stopped.

“What do you want, Mordred. Do you still want me to trust you after all you’ve done? Leave me alone!” Merlin asked, loudly.

“Is that it then,” Mordred shouted, “Why do you think I saved Arthur’s life, agreed to become a knight, and couldn’t concentrate at practise? It was all for you but you still refuse to listen to me.”

“Why would you try to impress me? I’m just a servant after all” Merlin retorted

“Why do you think?” Mordred replied, staring at somewhere that definitely wasn’t Merlin’s face.

“Oh. But what about you and Morgana?” Merlin asked his voice quieter now.

“She was like a mother to me but nothing else. But you? You were more than that, so, so, so much more.” Mordred hadn’t realised that he’d been walking forward but he realised that he had backed Merlin against the wall. He placed his hand on the wall next to Merlin and gazed into his clear, blue eyes before leaning in closer and kissing him tentatively, like he thought Merlin would use his magic to throw him across the corridor at any moment.

“Mordred, no, I think that we should.... oh to hell with it!” Merlin protested before wrapping his arms around Mordred’s waist and pulling him closer, a fairly blatant invitation to continue. To answer him, Mordred flung his arms around his neck and kissed him again, pushing him up against the wall. In the distance, Merlin thought he could hear footsteps...

“MORDRED!” the voice shouted, “And is that, oh dear God, is that..... MERLIN!” Mordred and Merlin jumped apart and turned beetroot red when they saw Arthur and Guinevere accompanied by Gwaine, Leon and Percival staring at them. “We heard shouting,” Arthur explained, “We came to see what was going on.” Gwen pulled on Arthur’s arm and they all left. Mordred leant closer to Merlin,

“My chambers at 8.”

***

Merlin made his way to Mordred’s chambers. Word had gone around like wild fire so Gaius knew by the time Merlin got back with the herbs he wanted. “Mordred was in here earlier for a remedy for some cuts from knight’s practise, he told me what happened,” Gaius said, “I didn’t realise that you were........ Anyway, I’m sorry to bring this up but what about Freya?

“She’s dead Gaius, and nothing I can do will change that.”

***

He knocked on Mordred’s door and he opened it, dressed simply in a white shirt and brown trousers much like Merlin but Merlin’s top was red. Mordred shut the door then turned to Merlin, grabbing him round the waist and enveloping him in a passionate kiss, only taking a break to remove his shirt and tug at Merlin’s. “Mordred, the shirt stays on,” he argued but Mordred gave him a look that clearly told him he didn’t have a choice,

“You take it off or I’ll rip it off,” Mordred replied so Merlin agreed. He then kissed him again, the kiss getting more out of control by the minute. Suddenly, Mordred grabbed at the waistband of Merlin’s trousers but Merlin stopped him and pushed him off,

“Seriously, Mordred, wait a minute will you.”

“Merlin, I have waited for six years, I am NOT waiting any longer,” Mordred replied

“Mordred,” Merlin asked gently, “Are you an innocent?” Mordred nodded sheepishly, “So am I” Merlin continued.

“Not for much longer,” Mordred said with a sly smile as he grabbed Merlin into another kiss then pushed him onto the bed. He began to pull on Merlin’s waistband but this time, Merlin wasn’t stopping him.

***

Merlin woke up to bright sunlight shining through the curtains. He took one look at Mordred and all the memories from the night before flooded back. He turned over and traced Mordred’s Triskelion tattoo with his index finger, wondering if all Druid men had them. _I should_ _check_ , he thought, _well, if they’re all as handsome as Mordred, it shouldn’t be too much of a_ _hardship,_ “Wake up, sleepy head,” Merlin coaxed and Mordred opened his sleepy blue eyes, “I’m late for work but you can sleep in if you want.” Merlin got up and gathered up his clothes from where they were scattered around the room and pulling them on, well aware of Mordred’s stare. He walked back over to the bed and kissed Mordred on the lips, “I’ll see you tonight at the council meeting and maybe after that?” he teased before walking out.

***

“What is wrong with that bloody servant,” Arthur complained, later that day, to Gwen as her serving girl passed her the red dress that she always wore to council meetings, “He was all over the place today, his work was even more substandard than usual!”

“If you’ll excuse me Sire,” the serving girl, Emily, said, “he was probably daydreaming about what him and one of your knights were doing last night. I saw him leaving earlier this morning, leaving Sir Mordred’s room, and I was talking to the lad who cleans it. It was a right mess, table and dresser upended, chairs knocked over, some of them with legs missing, and the sheets, the bloody sheets, Robert said it’d take days to make them look clean again.” Gwen was giggling like a madwoman by this point and Arthur and Emily joined in too,

“Crikey, I never thought the two of them were the type but I guess I was wrong. I know, let’s sit them together at dinner and the council meeting and see what happens,” Arthur plotted and he and Gwen left the room discussing some scenarios.

Mordred walked into the Dining Hall and was placed at his usual seat next to Gwaine. He did enjoy sitting next to his friend but after the events of the last few days he was anticipating a night full of teasing. Mordred saw Gwaine lean in closer to whisper something in his ear but then he saw Arthur shake his head and beckon Gwaine over. Mordred strained his ears to try and hear what was going on but he only caught the last sentence, “Tell the others.” He supposed it was something to do with knight’s practise and as Gwaine walked back over he told Mordred that practise was cancelled tomorrow because it was likely that they’d all have hangovers. Gwaine then turned round to face Elyan and whispered something to him. All was going well until after dessert when, due to the fact that Gwaine had substituted Mordred’s wine for his own stronger goblet, Merlin leant over to collect Mordred’s plate and Mordred couldn’t resist giving Merlin’s bottom a squeeze. Merlin squeaked loudly causing everyone to look round,

“Are you alright, Merlin,” Gwaine asked, struggling not to burst out laughing.

“Yes, Sir,” Merlin replied, “This chicken is a little hotter than I thought.” Merlin was happy with his excuse right up until he looked down and realised that everyone was eating cake.  

When everyone was seated at the council chamber the meeting began. Mordred and Merlin were thrilled at being placed next to each other and everyone else, who had by now been informed of the plot, kept slipping them surreptitious glances. About halfway through, Mordred started getting bored. He moved his hand under the table and placed it on Merlin’s thigh, giving Merlin a small smile as he did so. Then, he moved his hand a little more to the side to where he, and he was sure Merlin too, wanted his hand to end up. Merlin had to bite his lip to stifle the groan of delight rising up in his throat when he felt Mordred’s hand move. The game continued for a while, Mordred and Merlin trying to make each other attract the council’s attention Merlin stopped when he felt Mordred’s hand move away from him, assuming that he’d given up before giving a loud yelp when Mordred grabbed him rather roughly. “Merlin, are you OK,” Arthur asked, somehow managing to contain a grin.

“Yes, Sire, I was just daydreaming that I was, um, a dog. I yelped because Mordred woke me up.” Arthur didn’t believe him for a minute but he continued with the meeting as Mordred looked at Merlin and mouthed “I win.”

***

Mordred had only just shut the door of his quarters when Merlin rounded on him, “What the hell was that about? We need to be more careful, everyone laughs behind our backs anyway, I don’t need them laughing to my face!” Merlin had backed Mordred against the wall but suddenly he leaned in and passionately kissed him, momentarily worried about how turned on he had become since they started shouting. In no time at all, Mordred and Merlin’s clothes were lying on the floor and they were led on the bed when suddenly Merlin had an idea. He untied the ropes that were tying the curtains to the bedpost, “Lie on your front and hold your arms out in front of you!” Merlin commanded and Mordred obeyed. Merlin quickly tied Mordred’s hands to the bedpost and moved back so he was straddling Mordred’s hips as he leant down to whisper in his ear, “Oh Mordred, you may have won at the meeting but it’s your turn to be the servant now.” He moved back a little before spanking Mordred hard as Mordred cried out in a mix of pain and pleasure. They carried on for about five minutes when Mordred cried out, “No Merlin, please......... I’m sorry.......please.......No......,” He begged as Merlin whispered to him again,

“My dear Mordred that was only the beginning.”

***

As Mordred strode into the changing rooms, after Knight’s practise, he could feel all the other knight’s stares; clearly, the incident from the other day was still fresh in their minds. He heard the other knights whispering but he couldn’t hear what they were saying. He took his shirt off as Gwaine walked over, also topless; some people may have thought that he had just been getting ready but, from the tone of the whispers, Mordred decided that this was some sort of test, _well_ , he thought _, if they want a test, so be it._ Gwaine walked up to him, “So, how’re you and Merlin,” _Aha_ , Mordred thought, _they want to see if I like them_ , a mischievous grin spread across his face. He stepped slightly to the side so that Gwaine had his back to the wall as he slowly ran a finger down his face,

“Ah, well,” Mordred replied, as seductively as he could, “He’s a little boring to be honest,” His finger was now slowly making its way down Gwaine’s chest, “You, however, would be much better, hmm,” his finger was now resting on the waistband of Gwaine’s trousers and he teased a finger under it as he saw Gwaine struggling to contain a groan, and he laughed loudly, “The look on your face! We’re fine, thanks’. In fact, I’m going to see him now,” Mordred practically skipped out of the room, grabbing his shirt off the bench and pulling it on as he made his way to Gaius’s chambers to get Merlin, his body tingling with anticipation

***

That routine carried on for about three months, Merlin would go to Mordred’s room after dinner and then they would do whatever took their fancy. However, one night in mid July Merlin had only just drifted off to sleep when Mordred shook Merlin awake, “Shhhhh, my dear, get dressed, the King has called an emergency meeting,

“At this time of night,” Merlin asked,

“He said it couldn’t wait. It must be really important.” The two men rushed out and arrived at the council chambers in about two minutes. They both looked around and gasped as they saw a woman shackled to the wall. She was very pretty but Merlin felt like he had seen her before,

“Freya,” he whispered, not daring to hope that she was, by some miracle, alive. His whisper made Mordred turn to where she was and he gasped then began to stride across the room,

“KARA,” he shouted, “Kara, oh my Gods, why are you here. Don’t worry, I’ll get you out, I promise,”

“No you won’t, Mordred,” Arthur replied, “She is here for using sorcery to kill a band of Saxons and then attempting to kill the knights.” Merlin had rushed forward and he grabbed Mordred around the waist and dragged him away as Arthur said, “For this she must die.” Suddenly, Kara’s eyes turned gold and her shackles sprang open. She pulled a dagger from a belt round her thigh, thrusting it at Arthur. Arthur pulled out his sword and, with one clean sweep, sliced Kara’s neck open and she fell to the floor in a pool of blood. Mordred attempted to run to her, tears streaming down his face but Merlin held him back, both of them looking daggers at Arthur,

“Mordred, I’m sorry....... She’s dead,” Merlin said as Mordred sagged against him, his tears soaking Merlin’s shirt, “You will pay for this, Arthur,” Merlin cried, his eyes turning gold as Arthur finally realised the truth about his manservant but he didn’t have time to say anything before Merlin had summoned his and Mordred’s possessions, “Beware, Arthur,” He cried, “For when the time comes, and it will, we _will_ fight you. You may have an army but what chance do you stand against magic?” he strode out of the room, sweeping Mordred into his arms.

They walked away, into the dusk as Arthur watched from the window of the tallest tower, his loyal manservant, his Merlin, was lost forever. The pain in his chest was getting tighter with every step Merlin took away from him, he'd known that he loved Merlin but he'd never given his heart the chance that it craved, he was a King, he couldn't afford to be compromised, he needed to provide the next generation of kings.

But it was too late now and only as he watched two dark heads step out into the distance did he realise what he'd let go. He watched silently as he saw them embrace, the sunset presenting the perfect romantic backdrop. In fact, it was the last thing he saw as he tightened the noose around his neck and stepped of his throne, for the last time.

 


End file.
